Black Aggro Flips The Table In Standard!

After a Pro Tour dominated by a clear best deck for the weekend, a lot of doubts lingered about the potential for this format. Five years without a Standard ban, and then three rounds of bans back-to-back? A little skepticism would have to be forgiven...

...however, if the first Grand Prix of the new format is any indication, it looks like we might have a real format on our hands!

The new Standard still appears to be nearly completely aggro (85.7% of the Top 32 metagame), but the balance of power has swung dramatically towards black aggressive decks that would appear to have the advantage over red. A few questions emerge:

Which black aggro deck is best suited to combat the others?

What strategies will rise to defeat black aggro?

Can red do anything to regain its lost percentage?

Let's start by taking a look at the weighted Top 32 metagame from Grand Prix Minneapolis:

Archetypes

Top 32 Metagame

Zombies

36.5%

B/G Aggro

27.0%

Mardu

9.5%

Red

7.9%

B/X Midrange

6.3%

U/R Control

4.8%

Eldrazi Aggro

4.8%

W/U Approach

3.2%

I'd like to take a look at the various top-performing strategies and then get into the deck I'm tuning for Grand Prix Denver.

While it may have been a weekend for Zombies and B/G, I still think the starting place for this format is with red decks powered by Ramunap Ruins.

Spells (11)

Sideboard

This build is fairly representative of the agreed-upon best direction for red aggro, as Cartouche of Zeal and Village Messenger are just too weak against other aggro decks. The ability to get a little more midrange after sideboard that we've seen so often lately is an important part of tuning the strategy in this mono-aggro meta.

With God-Pharaoh's Gift having nearly completely disappeared, Scavenger Grounds's stock has fallen, making Sea Gate Wreckage a suitable replacement. It's not that we're using it all the time, it's that when we do, it frequently matters.

Of course, not everyone is on board with moving away from Scavenger Grounds. For instance, Grand Prix Minneapolis champion Steve Locke's build of Mono-Black Zombies adopted two copies in lieu of the usual copies of Westvale Abbey most Zombie decks pack.

One of the biggest changes to the format as a result of Hour of Devastation is the printing of the pain Deserts, giving mono-color decks legitimately powerful lands to make up for the loss of creature-lands. Obviously, you don't have to play mono-color to make good use of them, but they deal a lot less damage if you do.

Glint-Sleeve Siphoner has long gotten plenty of respect, but Gifted Aetherborn frequently gets left out. Frequently, there are better two-drops as a result of playing red or green or white. Even when not playing one of those, Walking Ballista has frequently gotten the nod. Well, the printing of Abrade changes that equation, and Ifnir Deadlands makes colorless a fine "second color."

Gifted Aetherborn is also a pretty freaking fantastic metagame call in a format full of Falkenrath Gorgers and Shocks. Yeah, sure, they can Abrade it, but that's going to be true of a lot of things. Plus, when they spend their second turn killing your two-drop, that really favors the deck with more three-, four-, and five-drops.

In for a penny, in for a pound. I do kind of love just how many must-kill threats Chris managed to fit into his list. The more removal people use on Gifted Aetherborn, the less they have for Drana. The more they use on Drana, the less they have for Kalitas.

Speaking of Kalitas, I love the use of Bontu's Last Reckoning out of the sideboard, which combines with Kalitas for quite the wombo-combo. Even though Kalitas is dying, you'll get Zombies and they won't die.

While Mono-Black may have taken the trophy, there's a good argument to be made for B/G Constrictor, particularly when you consider Brad Nelson and his brother Corey Baumeister both made the Top 8 with nearly identical builds, Corey advancing all the way to the finals.

Spells (12)

Sideboard

So to begin with, these decks are neither B/G Energy nor B/G Delirium. They have the whole +1/+1 counter thing going on, but they're not exactly going crazy there, either. Instead, the real innovation is the massive increase in 2/3s (similar to the Gifted Aetherborns and Dranas we just saw).

Sideboard

Not really a whole lot new here, though it is interesting to see the complete disappearance of Dissenter's Deliverance. Between the banning of Aetherworks Marvel and the printing of Abrade, there's just not as much call for it, particularly with tempo so important. Risking having to cycle a Dissenter's Deliverance early could really disrupt how quickly and smoothly we come out, and these red decks really punish any stumbling.

Sideboard

Instead, he's got a third Archangel Avacyn, though still maxing out on Gideons after sideboarding.

Doomfall is an excellent card right now. We've seen it in lots of sideboards today, but it's also fine as a maindeck card for less aggressive of strategies. The ability to exile Hazoret is a big deal, and it's also slot-efficient for matchups where you want some discard to break up a combo…

Sideboard

While blue would appear to be largely getting thrashed; Ward finished just outside the Top 8 with a U/W Control deck that replaces Torrential Gearhulk with Approach of the Second Sun. The ubiquity of Abrade makes winning with Gearhulk difficult, and the near-uniform swarm of aggro makes relying on such a narrow combo a lot less risky. Sure, the maindeck really struggles with counterspells, but who plays counterspells?

Just want to note: Authority of the Consuls is an incredibly sweet weapon against red aggro. If you start the game with it, you're going to gain so much life, and that's to say nothing of shutting the twenty haste creatures down. I would strongly consider some Authority of the Consuls in any slower white deck's sideboard.

While this Standard may be mostly aggro, this is not the worst quantity of top strategies by recent standards. When a format is in flux but most of the strategies somewhat thematically linked, there is often opportunity to exploit them. That all the decks are aggro is part of the picture, but breaking the format down by color reveals even more:

Color

Meta

Black

82.5%

Red

28.6%

Green

27.0%

White

20.1%

Blue

8.0%

While red may be the baseline best, setting the pace for the format, black may be the best suited to combat it. What about combining them?

I discussed the B/R Midrange deck I'm tuning for Grand Prix Denver last week, and I'm definitely taking a good, long look at Nathan Lothamer's Top 8 list from Minneapolis.

Sideboard

The biggest addition Nathan has made is the adoption of Gifted Aetherborn in lieu of more removal or Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. We've already discussed Glint-Sleeve Siphoner's vulnerabilities, and an over-reliance on removal can leave the B/R deck too reactionary to press advantages. Besides, it's not like drawing all removal is good against these aggro decks. You need ways to actually gain advantages.

I generally like the move away from draw-twos, as they are just so mediocre, and the last thing we want to do right now is take extra damage for no reason.

With so few counterspells or Cast Outs, I'm kind of intrigued by the miser's Scorpion God maindeck (instead of sideboard). It's an excellent way to take over a game that goes long and is extra-good against Grasp of Darkness and Dark Salvation, compared to another Goblin Dark-Dweller or Glorybringer.

I'm not 100% sold on Dreamstealer yet, but I could see it. I just worry that the presence of Gifted Aetherborn and Kalitas could leave us with a shortage of opponents truly vulnerable.

Here's where I'm at so far, though I do want to work on improving the B/G matchup.

Sideboard

I know it might seem silly, but there is a part of me eyeing that manabase and wondering if I might be able to get four Aether Hubs and maybe a couple of Spirebluff Canals in there. Alternatively, I would really not hate some Wandering Fumarole action.

About Patrick Chapin

Patrick Chapin, "The Innovator," is a member of the Hall of Fame class of 2012. The Pro Tour Journey into Nyx Champion and five-time Pro Tour Top 8 competitor is a renowned deckbuilder and author of both Next Level Magic and Next Level Deckbuilding.